Regulation and control of steam production.



E. THOMSON I 4 REGULATION AND CONTROL OF STEAK PRODUGTIOH.

APPLIOATIH FILED AUG. 2, 1897.

'Patnigeq Jan. 30, 1912.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIHU THdMSON, 0F SWAMPSCOTT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 GENERAL ELEC-TRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jun. 30, 1912.

Application filed August 2, 1897. Serial No. 646,752.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that l, ELinn Tnonsox, a citizen of the United States,residing at Swampscott, in the county of Essex, State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Regulation andControl of Steam Production, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to a means for controlling or limiting thetemperature to be attained by a steam generating device or boiler, andalso for limiting the pressure which can at any time be pro ducedtherein by vaporization of a fluid pumpedinto the vaporizin" spaces.

7 The invention is part'ieu arly applicable to a vaporizer or boilermade of a uiassive piece of metal in aeeordauee with other cases filedby me, or such a Stllttttltl'ti as eonsists of a metallic body havingpassages through which the vapors of a fluid are to be -sent. Themetallic body in this case is assumed to be sullieiently massive toacquire a sensibly uniform temperature by heat conduction, or at least.not. to diller very greatly in temperature at dill'erent portions.

The object of the invention is to make the temperature of the boilerattained at some one part or )tlllS of its structure eontrol anyincrease eyond a eertaiu limit in such temperature, and at the same time(ontrol the pressure which may be developed in the vapor stream byregulating the water or fluid supply.

Figure 1 represents an elevation, partly in section, of a structureembodying my invention. Fig. 2 is. a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 1.Figs. 3 and 4 are enlarged details. Fig. 5 is a modilit'ati m adaptingthe. invention to a particular use. p In Fig. 1, V represents a massivevaporizer whose exterior sin-flutes are covered with projections forabsorbingheat and which has inside a series of'passages such -as wouldbe formed, for example, by eastin a coiled pipe therein.

'is the outlet for vapor and I the inlet: pipe for,the liquid to bevaporized. J is the jet or burner 'lllClLfllll'tlSlltS the combustiblefor heating the boiler; C the chimney or stuck which forms an expandedcasing around the boiler, as usual.

' The fuel supply is usually oil, either --".l pressure of tliquid orvaporized, reaching the jet J through a pipe l from any suitablereservoir. under sutiirieut pressure to cause it to lion.

it is a valve 'lllt'll ran he opened and shut by a motion of the valverod 1' to regulate the How of vapor or oil to the burner J.

Q is a portion of the ma s of the boiler V, extended to contain thetemperature regulating arranrjement, \vhieh may be construeted invarious ways. One. of these ways is typilied in Fig. 3; here the.extension Q oi the boiler mass (which may, of course. he a metallicpit-re attached to the mass having thorough heat-eo|ulueting eonneetiontherewith). contains a compound bar ll oi two metal strips and (I,having dili'erent eoellirients of expansion by heat. lived at one end.and adjusted by a proper .\('|'t\\' Z so that it will press upon thevalve rod r. Fig. l, and allow full [low of the fuel to heat the\"aporizer. ()n the increase of temperature of the vaporizer V and theboss (Q. in svmpathy therewith the com pound bar It bends so as torelieve the rod 1' and close the valve ll, Fig. l; gradually, upon theattainnu-nt ot' a certain temperature. the valve closes, either nearlyor 00111- pletely. as may be desired. In this arrangement. if the valvell be opened by the spring aud'elosed by the lloxnl'e of the compoundbar. the. temperature of the metal mass of the vaporizer V will belimited or cont olled irres -t-lively of its duty or .vapor output. The.eompound bar It might, of course. be repbu-ed by an expansible tluidcontained in a tlattened tube, as in the liourdon pressure gage, or byany suitable heat responsive devices eapable of controltime the valve.It and the. fuel supply. the ehief objeel': oi' the. arrangement being,to (heck the tire or the heating, agent, in its aetion in heating thevaporizer -V in aceorduuee with the inereased temperature of saidvaporizer, irrespective of the pressure of the vapor developed or the.amount; of vapor develo )ed in the heater.

"\Yitlr-the (leviees so far described I combine the automatic control oftheipressure of, the'liqnidto be vaporized, and there- .by Ivam enabledto eontrolnot only the vapor which leaves the 111s 1nd simultaneouslythe he 'j apora lhe; vaporizer then Q or; reservoir. The valve W wouldbe set, n fiaving thus described cannot produce either an excessivepressure of vapor, nor can it produce it at an excessive tempeiature. Itis, in fact, preferred to locate the boss Q at or near the outlet. 0 soas to more perfectly accomplish the result just stated. The object of myvaporizer is to supply steam to engines under regulated pressure and atsuch a temperature its will not injure the moving parts. .\t the sametime the object is to utilize when desired massive vaporizers withpractically no water therein, or with so little water that no similarityexists between it and an ordinary steam boiler filled with boilingwater. For securing vapor at a pressure limited in amount therefore Iemploy a feed pump D (Fig. 1) worked by a 'lilllli and plunger within acylinder 15 in the ordinary way. This feed pump has the usual S \':ltlllof valves between its outlet pipe I and its inlot or suction pipe 5 (seeFig. 4:), opening from the suction pipe inward to the pump cylinder andfrom the pumpa'ylinder outfull work is capable of converting into vap01. Should however the outlet pipe be closed (as by a valv'e betweenthe vaporizer and an engine using the vapor) the pump D need not stop,because a valve is provided at \V, held by a spring and allowing undera. certain excess of pressure the. liquid taken into the pump cylinder Ethrough the valve S to pass back into the suction space or pipe S,instead of passing the outlet valve T into the pipe I. Upon the valve \Vbears a spring F which may be adjusted by any suitable means on thestemot' the valve Vi", so as to cause it to open-under a certain pressure,which is to be the maximum pressure to be generated in the vaporizer.The slip-valve W being located in the suction space gives freedom fromthe leakage which might otherwise exist if it were located on the pipe Ior elsewhere where the pressure is big My,invention may 'be so combinedthat thepressure-regulating part and the tem-. peratureregulating paintwork "together, as when the vaporizer is used to va orize oil,'which isused to supply the jet 5 and which may also be va orized for, working anengine, the oil being condensed -after.'

passing the engineand returned to a proper reservoir from which thesuction pipe. S takes -it. In this case (see Fig. 5) S would ban suctionpipe for oil from a suitable tank as before, to limitthe pressure whichthe pum would exert in forcin said oil forwar The chamber A w'ou dexistas an equalizer and steadier'ot the )ressurc, as well as a reservoir forliquid un er pressure. The valve It would be controlled, as in'ltig. 1,by the temperature of the vaporizer, and thereby the flow of compressedoil to the jet J would be governed. A side pipe I may take a portion ofthe pumped oil, under pres sure, and carry 'it through the vaporizer, asin Fig. l, and the vaporized oil would pass to theoutlet pipe 0 where itmay be used for working a vapor engine and afterward suitably condensedand returned to thelreservoir from which the pipe S takes it;

Other modifications of my inventiodcan readily be made, its essentialfeatures consisting in so combining the regulation for temperature ofthe vaporizer'and the p'ressure of the vapor generated as to seetiie aHow of vapor of limited tcmperatur ahd pressure, but varying iii amountaccording to the demand, while the'fuel whiel\"produeesthe vaporizationis also varied in amount or rate of combustion automatically accordingto the demand for heatl To state the matter in a different way, meansare-"provided for supplying Water to the'boiler and .fuel to thecombustion chamber or burner in such quantities as: will furnishflie'desired amount of superheated steam or; vapor under varyingconditions'ofloa d up move cat'-- pacity of the system; superheatedsteam or va or. varies the tlier mostat and pressure regu ator autoniaticall vary the amountsof water and fuel wli-ici are respectivelysupplied to the "boi ler and burner,'and this in a definite quantitativerelation to'said variation in demand and in substantially the samedegree. In this inanner the temperature and pressure off the vapor areconstantl maintained. at' the proper pointsand un ereconoi'n'icaL'aud's'atisfactory conditions. The generator being pf theflasher type, the water as it enters is gradually heated until itflashes into steam, and from this point to the end is raduallysuperheated. This means that o y a sinall amount of water is at thetemperature of vaporizationi' As the 'demandfin thegenerator for vaporchanges the point of vapprizatiomchan es slightly. .In one case itmay bemidway etween the ends-of the t:ubt%,'a, .nd in another 'before ora'fterthe midway position; I

In accordance with thasprovisions of-the' I patent statutes, lhavddescribed the prinei-- ple preparation of 'rnyinvention, to ether withthe a paratu'swhich Lnow consi or to.

re resent t ebest; embodiment thereof; but.

I esiretohave it understood that the apple ratus shown s-only-'1llust;rative and that. the invention can be out; by other means. myinvention, what As the demand 'for l I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is 1. The combination, of asteam-generator of the flasher type with a regulator for the fuel-supplygoverned by the temperature of the steam in said generator, and aregulator for the water-suppl governed by the pressure of steam saigenerator, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination of a steam-generator of the flasher type, a burnerfor heating the same, means for supplying fuel to the burner, means forsupplying water to the generator, a thermostatic regulator for governingthe fuehsupply which regulator is inclosed in the generator, and aregulator for governing thewater-supply which re lator is connected.with the generator an operated by the steam-pressure therein,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of a steam-generator of the flasher type, a source ofwater-Suppl means for forcing the waterfrom the su p y to thesteamgenerator, 2. hydrocar onburner for heating the steam-generator, a1 source of hydrocarbon supply connected. with the burner, athermostatic regulator and apressure-reglilator connected with the steamgenerator, the thermostatic regulator overning the supply of hydrocarbonto the urner and the pressure-regulator governl ing the supply of waterto the boiler, substantially as described.

al. In combination, a flash boiler, a water pump, a regulator forthefiatensupply that is-eontrolled by the pressure of the vapor in theboiler, an air chamber that is connected to the pump and the boiler aburner, and a regulator for the burner w 1011 is governed by thetemperature of the vapor in the boiler.

5. In combination, a boiler for generatin vapor pressure, a means fordelivering flui' thereto, a fire chamber, a means for delivering fuelthereto, and automatic means for regulating the suppl of fluid to theboiler and fuel to the fire c amber, the said means acting to correlatethe said supplies in accordance with the demands made on the boiler.

6. In combination, a flash boiler, a pumlp, a connection leading fromthe pump to t e boiler, a b -pass valve that is acted upon automatica 1yby the boiler pressure, a means i for supplying fuel to a fire chamber,and an automatic regulator therefor.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of July,1897.

ELIHU THOMSON.

Witnesses Join. W. GmBoNEY, RAYMOND H. DANFOBTH.

